The ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CDS) have vowed to use all means available to the bloc to restore constitutional order in Niger.
The ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defense Staff are in Ghana for a 2-days extraordinary meeting on the deployment of ECOWAS stand-by force in the Republic of Niger.
Addressing the high-ranking officers, the commissioner of Political Affairs, Peace, and Security of ECOWAS, Ambassador Abdul Musah, explained although the bloc is still giving diplomatic engagement with the military rulers in Niger a chance, any further defiance from the junta, will trigger a response in protecting the rules of the regional bloc with its contingency.
On 26 July 2023, a coup d’état occurred in Niger when the country’s presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum, and presidential guard commander General Abdourahamane Tchiani proclaimed himself the leader of a new military junta.
Presidential guard forces closed the country’s borders, suspended state institutions, and declared a curfew.
This was the fifth military coup d’état since the country gained independence from France in 1960, and the first since 2010.
The coup was widely condemned by the international community and by the West African regional bloc ECOWAS threatened military intervention against the military junta.
Source: Kasapafmonline.com
